Small/Medium TFT LCD and AMOLED Display Technology and Production Undergoing Great Changes

Small/medium TFT LCDs will experience dramatic changes over the next year, driven by market demand and the shift of larger fabs to production of small-medium panels. This is according to Hiroshi Hayase, Director of Small/Medium Displays Research, for market research firm DisplaySearch. According to the recently released 2009 edition of DisplaySearch's unique Annual Small/Medium TFT LCD and AMOLED Product Roadmap Report, while most AMOLED display developers are focused on mobile phones as their initial application, they have plans to move into notebook and TV panels in the future.

Additional report highlights by application include
- Mobile Phone
Mainstream sizes are in the range of 1.8in to 2.4in, but 3in+ is growing fast. Smart phones are driving growth in screen size, as well as the development of new technologies including slim panel designs for better form factor, high resolution (HD, 720p and WVGA), and reduced power consumption for multimedia usage. In addition to existing features like transflective and wide viewing angle, technologies being developed include ALS (ambient light sensor), CABC (content-adaptive backlight control) and in-cell touch.
- Digital Still Camera
Sizes range from 2.4in to 3.5in, and are shifting to wide aspect ratios for sharing and HD format for better reality. Production is mainly in Gen 2 through Gen 3.5 fabs, but Gen 4 production is coming.
- Digital Photo Frame
Sizes range between 5.6in and 10.2in. Production is moving to Gen 5, LED backlighting for lower power consumption is increasing, and new driver ICs are being adopted for lower cost. The market is dominated by InnoLux, CPT and HannStar, but LG Display is working on mirror functionality, which is an innovative technology for digital photo frames.
- Portable Navigation Device
Sizes range between 3.5in and 7in. The market is dominated by Samsung, Sharp and AUO. Display formats are shifting to WVGA and WQVGA. New technologies are being adopted, including LED backlight, hTSP (hybrid touch screen panel) and dual gate driver ICs.
- Automobile
The mainstream size range is 7in to 10in. LED backlight and touch panel integration are increasing. A new trend is round panels, designed to fit with other dashboard gauges.
- Mobile Internet Device
LED backlight and WVGA and WSVGA resolution are the focus areas.
- Industrial (including POS and ATM): Product differentiation is based features like LED backlight (NEC, Sharp and Toshiba), high luminance (NEC and LG Display), sunlight readability (AUO) and long lifetime (Toshiba).

DisplaySearch


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